The Mantis of Courage

And now for our daily prompt (optional, as always). Today, begin by reading Bernadette Mayer’s poem “The Lobelias of Fear.” Now write your own poem titled “The ________ of ________,” where the first blank is a very particular kind of plant or animal, and the second blank is an abstract noun. The poem should contain at least one simile that plays on double meanings or otherwise doesn’t quite make “sense,” and describe things or beings from very different times or places as co-existing in the same space.

The Mantis of Courage

In wet afternoon
As majestic as cat tears
waiting at tip of rhodadeddron
for unsuspecting Jane

The moment arises
As she brushes by
Like lovely armidillo
Your patience pays off